I'm motivated and ready to go! I have not been happy since I've gained this weight. Stress has not been good to me. We moved twice in a two year period and I had to change jobs after being employed for 20 years at the same location. To make myself feel better I ate. All I succeeded in doing was to make myself feel worse.

My Starting weight of 230 is the highest I have ever been in my life. When I met my husband I weighed 130 pounds at 5'6" Not incredibly thin but I certainly ...

I'm motivated and ready to go! I have not been happy since I've gained this weight. Stress has not been good to me. We moved twice in a two year period and I had to change jobs after being employed for 20 years at the same location. To make myself feel better I ate. All I succeeded in doing was to make myself feel worse.

My Starting weight of 230 is the highest I have ever been in my life. When I met my husband I weighed 130 pounds at 5'6" Not incredibly thin but I certainly looked better than I do now. After the birth of my son I weighed 145 pounds. I then had my daughter and krept up to 165 pounds. After that it was uphill all the way. When we moved twice in one year I weighed 180 pounds. I have been in my new location and new job for 4 years I now weigh 230. I gained 50 pounds in 4 years! How does a person do that??? My life was a complete blur.

There was a lot of stress with the move and adjusting to a new job which required me to commute 2.5 hours a day. I used to have a 5 min. commute. My ADHD teenager son who still is having trouble adjusting has also created a quite stressfull environment. I love him dearly but he is definitely high maintenance. My husband was ill and diagnosed with Diabetes 2 and hospitalized three times. Once for pancreatitis, the second time was for skin cancer treatment and another time to place a splint in his artery to his heart in order to open it up for better blood flow. His health issues all happened in a one year period. It was quite the year. I think I gained 25 pounds in that year alone. On top of all of that he also was having serious problems at work which transferred over into our home life.

The move for his job promotion was a big mistake and we realized it as soon as we moved. The cost of living is high here, in more ways than one, and the small increase he received for his promotion was engulfed by the high cost of homes and gas for commuting among other things. The distance from the rest of our family had increased and we only get to see them twice a year instead of once a month. I feel like I don't have my family around to support me and other than some close coworkers I really have not made any close friendships in our new location.

I feel tired all the time, I breath heavily after climbing flight of stairs, I have little interest in the things that used to bring me joy. I have little confidnce and I avoid social situations because I feel like the only obese person in the room and I am embarrassed by that. My daughter thank goodness is thin and very athletic. She has an issue about heavy people and is almost phobic about gaining weight. I really think she is embarrassed to be seen with me when her friends are around. She does not say that but I sence it. I pray that she never has to go through this and that she can manage her weight her entire life.

It's time for a change. I'm tired of going through life like this. I want to feel good again and be happy so I can enjoy the time I have with my family and friends. I want to get on the back of a motorcycle with my husband and not feel like everyone in cars behind me is pointing and laughing at my big butt. I want my daughter and family to be proud to be seen with me because I'm their "HOT" mom or wife. I want to walk up a flight of stairs and breath normally when I get to the top.

Cheers, to a new beginning! :)

This was written a year ago. Since then I had lost 36 pounds then regained 10 of it. My fathers death really slammed on the breaks for my weight loss. I focused all my attention on getting my mother through this last year without him and neglected myself. Its time to get back on track. I am now back and ready to go! again.

Ride on the back of my husbands motorcycle with him. Goal Ride with Rolling Thunder on Memorial Day of 2010

Feel good riding on our boat while wearing a bathing suit. Right now I rarely remove my cover up.

After my kids graduate....Move back to PA or to a less expensive, less stressful and beautiful rural area and start to paint again.

Obtain my Principal Certification by end of Summer 2010

My Program:
My program consists of using Sparkpeople every day to track my food and keep in touch with others that are going through the same things I am when it comes to dealing with weight. I need to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day and exercise 3 or more times a week.

Personal Information:
I am a female in my 40's. I have a husband and two children ages 16 and 19. I teach middle school and have a long one hour + commute in traffic. The commute does not help the stress level. :)

Other Information:
I enjoy time to be alone and reflect once in a while. I used to do a lot of art work but I strayed from it when life became hectic. I miss it and think about it every day. The Star Barn image on my SparkPage is one of my paintings. One of my personal goals is to set aside time to be creative again.

So very true, we started about same and lost same. Sorry I haven't been on much. I am really sick with sinus infection (since May 12) but now the pain is nearly unbearable, to the point they are trying a couple of things, then off to Ear Nose Throat specialist. At this point, I pray that between doctor and dentist, this clears up the rest of the way.